the catch is simply that "no name" flours do not offer a consistent product. what works today may not work next month. if you're going to get serious about baking:

1. weigh _everything_

2. get real cotton picking particular about the "quality" essentials of all ingredients.

Thanks for the advice

I have been experimenting with and tweaking my whole wheat bread for a while now. I have made 100's of loaves over the last 18 months and still don't have the recipe perfected, but I am getting closer.

It is ~60% whole wheat flour - which I grind myself from hard white wheat berries. Another 10% comes from a crushed multi-grain cereal mix and the balance is bread flour. It is seriously delicious; store bought bread is nearly unpalatable now.

I have tried half-a-dozen varieties of flour (including King Aurthur), but I did not see any variability in the end result, so I have just been using Gold Medal bread flour and the store brand unbleached AP.

The things that I have seen make a larger difference are:
*measure by weight (as you suggest)
*Various soaker methods
*Performing the final mix to the ideal dough consistency very slowly - taking 30 minutes where most recipes call for shorter mix times. I am fairly certain it has to do with the gluten-water absorption rate.
*Baking with a pan of boiling hot water in the oven.
*I have also recently started incorporating a biga, with mixed results

the catch is simply that "no name" flours do not offer a consistent product. what works today may not work next month. if you're going to get serious about baking:

1. weigh _everything_

2. get real cotton picking particular about the "quality" essentials of all ingredients.

Thanks for the advice

I have been experimenting with and tweaking my whole wheat bread for a while now. I have made 100's of loaves over the last 18 months and still don't have the recipe perfected, but I am getting closer.

It is ~60% whole wheat flour - which I grind myself from hard white wheat berries. Another 10% comes from a crushed multi-grain cereal mix and the balance is bread flour. It is seriously delicious; store bought bread is nearly unpalatable now.

I have tried half-a-dozen varieties of flour (including King Aurthur), but I did not see any variability in the end result, so I have just been using Gold Medal bread flour and the store brand unbleached AP.

The things that I have seen make a larger difference are:
*measure by weight (as you suggest)
*Various soaker methods
*Performing the final mix to the ideal dough consistency very slowly - taking 30 minutes where most recipes call for shorter mix times. I am fairly certain it has to do with the gluten-water absorption rate.
*Baking with a pan of boiling hot water in the oven.
*I have also recently started incorporating a biga, with mixed results

>>I have tried half-a-dozen varieties of flour (including King Aurthur), but I did not see any variability in the end result, so I have just been using Gold Medal bread flour and the store brand unbleached AP. <<

I have been experimenting with and tweaking my whole wheat bread for a while now. I have made 100's of loaves over the last 18 months and still don't have the recipe perfected, but I am getting closer.